Martinez Shuts Down Rangers With Rare Immaculate Inning

A Flawless Performance in Phoenix

Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Justin Martinez put on an absolute pitching clinic on Friday night in Phoenix. The hard-throwing righty entered the game in the sixth inning against the Texas Rangers and delivered one of the rarest feats in baseball. He threw an immaculate inning, striking out three straight batters on exactly nine pitches.

Martinez, who is 25 years old, faced Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter, and Jake Burger. He made incredibly quick work of the trio. The breakdown of his nine pitches was incredibly efficient, consisting of just one foul ball, three called strikes, and five swinging strikes. To make the moment even more impressive, his fastball topped out at a blazing 102.6 mph during the sequence.

Overcoming Major Setbacks

This dominant display is even more remarkable when you look at what Martinez has overcome to get back to the mound. The young pitcher missed a large portion of the past two seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

He recently returned to action from the injured list, and he has been nearly unhittable since his return. So far this year, Martinez has made eight outings. In those eight appearances, he has not allowed a single earned run. His performance on Friday night shows that his arm is feeling great and his velocity is fully back.

Entering the Record Books

With those nine pitches, Martinez wrote his name into the franchise record books. This was only the fifth immaculate inning in the history of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a franchise that dates back to 1998.

Interestingly, fans in Arizona did not have to wait very long to see another one of these rare feats. Martinez is actually the second Diamondbacks pitcher to throw an immaculate inning this year. Michael Soroka last accomplished the feat for Arizona earlier this season, back on March 30.

What it means for the next game

Texas Rangers at Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB, Sun, 13 Sep): Arizona Diamondbacks win 56%, Texas Rangers win 44%; projected score Arizona Diamondbacks 5, Texas Rangers 4. Our safest pick: Rangers +3.5.